Although the children were destroyed whenever they ventured from their homes the vigilance of some of the parents saved the race, and in spite of the numerous deaths the people increased, and they built many houses. Four years (referring to periods of time) the Skóyo and animals captured and ate the Sia whenever they left their villages, but the Sia were not always to suffer this great evil.
The sun father determined to relieve the people of their trouble and so he became the father of twin boys.
Ko´chinako, a virgin (the yellow woman of the north), when journeying to visit the center of the earth, lay down to rest. She was embraced by the Sun, and from this embrace she became pregnant. In four days she gave evident signs of her condition, and in eight days it was still more perceptible, and in twelve days she gave birth to male twins. During her condition of gestation her mother, the spider woman, was very angry, and insisted upon knowing the father of the child, but the daughter could not tell her; and when the mother asked when she became pregnant, she could not reply to the question, and the mother said: “I do not care to see the child when it is born; I wish to be far away.” And as soon as the daughter complained of approaching labor the mother left, but her heart softened toward her child and she soon returned. In four days from the birth of the boys they were able to walk. When twins are born, the first-born is called Kat´saya and the second Kat´che.
Ko´chinako named her first-born Ma´-a-se-we and the second U´-yuuyewĕ. These children grew rapidly in intelligence, but they always remained small in stature. One day they inquired of their mother, “Where is our father?” The mother replied, “He is far away; ask no more questions.” But again they asked, “Where is our father?” And they received the same reply from the mother. The third time they asked, and a fourth time, when the mother said, “Poor children, your father lives far away to the east.” They declared they would go to him, but she insisted they could not; that to reach him they would have to go to the center of a great river. The boys were so earnest in their entreaties to be allowed to visit their father, that the mother finally consented. Their grandmother (the spider woman) made them each a bow and arrows, and the boys started off on their journey, traveling along way. Upon reaching the river they were puzzled to know how to enter their father’s house. While they stood thinking, their grandmother (the spider woman) appeared and said, “I will make a bridge for you.” She spun a web back and forth, but when the bridge was completed the boys feared to cross it; it appeared so frail. Then the grandmother tested the bridge to show them it was safe. They, being now satisfied, crossed the bridge and descended to the center of the river, and there found their father’s house. The wife of their father inquired of the boys, “Who are you, and where did you come from?” “We come to find our father.” The woman then asked, “Who is your father?” and they answered, “The Sun is our father;” and the wife was angry and said, “You tell an untruth.” She gave them a bowl of food, which was, however, only the scraps left by her children.
In a little while the Sun returned home. His wife was very indignant; “I thought you traveled only for the world, but these children say you are their father.” The Sun replied, “They are my children, because all people are my children under my arm.” This satisfied the wife, even though the children appealed directly to the Sun as father. When he saw the boys were eating scraps, he took the bowl, threw out the contents, and had his wife give them proper food. He then called one of his men who labored for him, and said, “Build me a large fire in the house,” designating a sweat-house, “lined with turkis, and heat it with hot rocks,” the rocks being also turkis. He sent the children into this house and had the door closed upon them. The Sun then ordered water poured upon the hot rocks through an opening in the roof, but the children cooled the sweat-house by spitting out tiny shells from their mouths.
When the Sun ordered the door of the sweat-house opened he was surprised to find the children still alive. He then had them cast into another house, which was very large and filled with elk, deer, antelope, and buffalo; he peeped through an opening in the wall and saw the boys riding on the backs of the elk and deer apparently very happy and contented. He then had them placed in a house filled with bear, cougar, and rattlesnakes, and he peeped in and saw the children riding on the backs of the bear and cougar and they were happy and not afraid, and he said, “Surely they are my children,” and he opened the doors and let them out, and asked, “My children, what do you wish of me?” “Nothing, father,” they replied, “We came only to find our father.” He gave to each of them a bow and arrows, and to each three sticks (the rabbit stick), which he told them not to use until they reached home for if they threw one, intending it only to go a little way it would go very far. When they had proceeded on their journey but a short distance Ma´asewe said to U´yuuyewĕ, “Let us try our sticks and see how far they will go;” but U´yuuyewĕ refused, saying, “No; our father told us not to use them until our return home.” Ma´asewe continued to plead with his younger brother, but he was wise and would not yield. Finally Ma´asewe threw one of his, and it was going a great distance off, but he stopped it by throwing shells from his mouth.
The mother and grandmother were delighted to see the boys again, and happy for all to be under one roof, but the boys, particularly Ma´asewe, were soon anxious to travel. They wished to try the bows their father had given them, and after they had been home four days they started on a hunt. The mother said to the boys: “Children, I do not wish you to go far; listen attentively to what I have to say. Away to the east is a lake where many skoyo and their animal companions live and when the sun is over the middle of the world these people go to the lake to get water. They are very bad people and you must not go near the lake.” Ma´asewe replied, “Very well, mother; I do not care to go that way and I will look about near home.” But when the boys had gone a little distance Ma´asewe said to his younger brother, “Let us go to the lake that mother talked of.” U´yuuyewĕ replied: “I do not care to go there, because our mother told us not to go that way;” but Ma´asewe importuned his younger brother to go, and U´yuuyewĕ replied, “Very well.” They then followed the road indicated by their mother until the lake was discovered.
It was now about the middle of the day, and Ma´asewe said “There are no people here, none at all; I guess mother told us a story;” but in a little while he saw a great wolf approach the lake; then they saw him enter the lake; he was thirsty, and drank; both boys saw him at the bottom of the lake and they exclaimed: “See! he looks pretty in the bottom of the lake.” Ma´asewe said: “I guess he will drink all the water; see, the water grows less and less.” And when all the water was gone there was no wolf in the bottom of the lake and then the boys discovered the wolf on a low mesa, it having been only his reflection they had seen in the lake. The boys aimed their arrows at him, but they did not hit him and the wolf threw a large stick at them, but they bowed their heads and it passed over them. Ma´asewe said to U´yuuyewĕ: “I guess these people are those of whom mother spoke; see,” said he, “this stick is the same as those given us by our father.” The boys carried their rabbit sticks of great size and Ma´asewe aimed one of his at the wolf, who wore a shirt of stone which could be penetrated only at certain points. The wolf again threw a stick, but the boys jumped high from the ground and the stick passed under them. Ma´asewe said to U´yuuyewĕ, “Now, younger brother, you try.” U´yuuyewĕ had not used his arrows or sticks up to this time. He replied, “All right,” and throwing one of his sticks he struck the wolf in the side, and the protective shirt was destroyed for the moment. Then Ma´asewe threw a stick, but the shirt of stone again appeared protecting the wolf. U´yuuyewĕ, throwing a second stick killed the wolf. Then Ma´asewe said, “Younger brother, the wolf is destroyed; let us return; but we will first secure his heart;” and with a stone knife he cut the wolf down the breast in a straight line, and took out the heart, which he preserved, saying: “Now we will return to our home.”
Upon their reaching home, their mother inquired: “Where have you been, where have you been?” “We have been to the lake,” said the boys. “My boys, you are fooling me.” “No, we are speaking the truth.” “Why did you go there?” Ma´asewe replied, “We wished very much to see the lake.” The mother asked: “Did you not see any Sko´yo?” “Yes,” said Ma´asewe, “we saw one; at least we saw a great wolf;” and the mother cried, “Oh, my boys, you are not good boys to go there.” Then Ma´asewe told his mother that they had killed the wolf. At first, she refused to believe him; but when Ma´asewe declared he spoke the truth, the mother took the boys to her breast and said: “It is well, my children.” In a short time the boys started out on another tour. Before leaving home, they inquired of their mother where good wood for arrow shafts could be procured. “Far off to the north in a canyon is good wood for shafts, but a bad man sits in the road near by; this path is very narrow, and when one passes by he is kicked into the canyon by this bad man, and killed.” Ma´asewe declared to his mother he did not care to go there, but he was not far from her eyes before he prevailed upon U´yuuyewĕ to accompany him to this canyon, saying: “Let us go where we can find the best wood.”
It required some persuasion from Ma´asewe, as U´yuuyewĕ at first declared he would not disobey his mother. They traveled a long way ere reaching the bad old man, the cougar, but when they saw him they approached very cautiously, and Ma´asewe asked him if he could tell him “where to find good wood for arrow shafts.” “Yes, I know,” replied the cougar; “down there is much,” pointing to the canyon below. Ma´asewe inquired, “How can I reach the canyon?” The cougar said, “Pass by me; this is the best way.” Ma´asewe declared he must not walk before his elders, but the cougar insisted that the boys should pass in front of him. They were, however, determined to pass behind. Finally the cougar said, “All right.” Ma´asewe asked him to rise while they passed, but he only bent a little forward; then Ma´asewe said, “Lean a little farther forward, the path is narrow;” and the cougar bent his body a little more, when Ma´asewe placed his hands on the cougar’s shoulders, pressing him forward, saying, “Oh! the way is so narrow; lean just a little more; see, I can not pass.” U´yuuyewĕ, who was close to Ma´asewe, put both his hands on the cougar’s right shoulder, while his brother placed his on the left, they saying to him, “Just a little farther forward,” and, with their combined effort, they threw him to the canyon below, Ma´asewe crying out, “This is the way you have served others.” The cougar was killed by the fall.